A model for adult language learning should integrate theories in language acquisition with theories about learnability and proposals about adult language structures. Two particular problems in language acquisition are examined: (1) establishing what counts as a formal relationship in a particular domain, and (2) retreating from overgeneralizations…

A review of research on the development of linguistic competence in second language learners looks at the role played by input to children in their development of linguistic competence, the nature of children's metalinguistic development, and the same processes in the naturalistic second language learning of adults, and then examines the role of a…

Examines evidence offered to support the idea of a sensitive period for second language acquisition. Findings indicate that there is insufficient evidence to accept the claim that mastery of a second language is determined wholly, or even primarily, by maturational factors. (34 references) (Author/CK)

Using a video sign-monitoring task in American Sign Language, this study investigated the effects of late exposure to a primary language on adult linguistic processing. Native signers were sensitive to errors in both verb agreement and aspect; early and late signers were only sensitive to errors in aspect morphology. Late exposure was found to…